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• Lodi's National Guard soldiers come home quietly; troops adjusting to life outside Iraq

• Form 700s

• Blood trail leads police to suspect

• Woodbridge woman attacked by dogs; dogs still loose

• Creative proposal

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi postmaster sworn in

• Six graduate from Salvation Army culinary class

November 21st, 2009

• Logbook

• Holiday drive spreads cheer to U.S. troops

• Galt High students want board to approve open-campus policy

• Poisoning victims remain hospitalized

• Expert: Half a mushroom cap can be deadly

• Tokay grad files claim over Lodi's Grape Bowl

• Lodi Middle School holds annual Turkey Trot

• Regional Roundup

• No motive or suspect in shooting

• Sacramento cop arrested for alleged kidnapping

November 20th, 2009

• Acampo woman killed

• Salvation Army Kettle Kickoff

• Advocacy groups sue East Bay Municipal Utility District over Pardee expansion

• Regional Roundup

• Galt plans to help residents with energy-efficient projects

• Stable southeast of Lodi approved

• One year after a heart attack, Lodi's Judy Mims thanks rescuers

• National Guard troops return home in time for the holidays

• Real estate market gets on more solid ground

November 19th, 2009

• Operation: Christmas

• Logbook

• Suspect arrested after hiding in fridge

• Chase ends in crash

• Galt Joint Union High School Distric hires new superintendent

• Sales tax hike yields dividends: 5 new officers join Galt Police

• Lodi Unified School District board votes to cancel summer school for 2010

• Water surges in Mokelumne River yield more salmon

• Lodi City Council will consider redevelopment next June

• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22

• Corrections

November 18th, 2009

• Regional Roundup

• Paranormal group conducts second investigation of building

• Congress allocates money for local water projects

• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react

• Lodi man finds wife's ashes during police display of stolen property

• Galt City Council rejects study on rent stabilization

November 17th, 2009

• Paying tribute to a Lodian

• Lodi Budget and Finance Committee to look into ways to save money on employee benefits

• Regional Roundup

• Decision on summer school expected at tonight's Lodi Unified School District meeting

• Clements gets free water rescue boat

• Redevelopment to be discussed by Lodi City Council again

• Court reinstates death penalty for killer of Lodi grad

• Clarification

November 16th, 2009

• Correction

• Public Meetings

• City Council 'triple-dog dared' to ditch cars, use Lodi buses

• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi

• Lodi's First Sip event showcases area wineries' latest vintages

• Three members of Lodi-area family fall ill after eating poisonous mushrooms they reportedly found at Lodi Lake

• Regional Roundup

November 14th, 2009

• Galt school district narrows superintendent search to one

• Regional Roundup

• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise

• Watchful neighbor in Lodi helped bust suspected burglars

• New Galt city manager juggles job, family

• Despite an increase in homeless students, school districts look to bolster enrollment, raise revenue

• A first look at 2009 vintages at Lodi's First Sip wine-tasting event

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• The country's mess is our fault (165)
• Obama is not a moderate (130)
• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (70)
• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22 (48)
• The haves should help the have-nots (30)
• Public health care is a Christian option (29)
• Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
• Government-run health care is a bad idea (17)
• Young woman fatally shot at Acampo home (17)
• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi (16)

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Form 700s

Conflict of interest forms allow local officials to report few details about economic interests

If you're curious about the economic interests of your city leaders, the state's mandated disclosure forms won't tell you much.

Top officials and elected representatives from Lodi and Galt filed their Form 700s, or conflict of interest forms, this spring.

Of the many filings, however, only a small fraction detail anything about the leaders' investments, real estate holdings or gifts they've received.

Without any financial kingpins in Lodi or Galt government, it makes sense that there's not much listed, said several political observers.

Yet with the form's many disclosure exceptions, its vague requirements and the fact that they're not all audited, at least one government watcher says the 700s give a "murky" look at politician's holdings.

"It's not so much that people don't tell the truth on the forms," said Bob Benedetti, a longtime political science professor at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. "(But) it's hard to tell what it means."

In Galt, four of five city council members checked the box "no reportable interests on any schedule," signaling they don't own any stocks, conduct any private sector business in Galt or own any real estate aside from their home in the city.

Lodi city leaders were only a bit more specific.

And that's likely because they didn't have to be.

Politicians don't have to list any information about their private sector job if their employer doesn't do business in the city they represent.

If a council member has a day job with the state or a separate local government, they're not required to list that job or income either. Also, there's no requirement for officials or elected leaders to disclose anything about their savings, money market or retirement accounts or vacation property — unless they use it as a business deduction.

Even when officials do list the investments, property or businesses they own, they're only asked to give general descriptions of them and their value.

"The form is not designed to tell you how much they're worth, just if they have any conflict of interest," said Bob Stern, who helped draft the Political Reform Act of 1974, making the disclosure forms law.

'We're just basic, average people'

Several local leaders defended their filings, noting they've disclosed everything the state requires.

Lodi City Councilman Bob Johnson said his forms are a bit boring because he's "a plain vanilla guy."

"I'm not a wealthy individual," said Johnson, who works part-time as a real estate appraiser in Lodi. "I think I filled the forms out adequately and accurately. Just because I don't fill out 21 pages, that doesn't mean it's remiss."

There's nothing too spicy on the Galt forms either, as it should be, Galt City Councilman Tim Raboy said.

"We're just basic, average people," Raboy said of his fellow Galt council members, noting cities should be represented by folks with rather plain economic interests.

Raboy, along with Galt Councilman Don Haines, works in Sacramento as an investigator for the state's Board of Equalization.

Back in Lodi, Johnson and Councilman Phil Katzakian listed their businesses in town as required.

And Councilwoman Susan Hitchcock disclosed her and her husband's rental properties in the city.

Notably, only one of the 10 council members between the two cities — Galt City Councilman Darryl Clare — listed any gifts he had received in the past year above $50, as the forms mandate.

Lodi's city manager, attorney and clerk also marked "no reportable interests," along with Galt's city manager, treasurer and clerk. Galt's attorney, who is contracted through a private firm, listed the name of his company and reported that he earns "over $100,000."

The lack of detailed responses surprised Stern, who served as general counsel for the FPPC for nine years and now heads the Center for Government Studies, a Los Angeles-based think tank.

"If they're all retired, I'd understand," he said. "It is surprising that (almost) no gifts are listed at all. Most city council members do receive gifts."

Clare, the lone councilman to report a gift, said he has no reason to hide the two dinners he accepted last year on a Washington D.C. lobbying trip.

One was sponsored by Sutter Health. If Clare had hypothetically met the head of the hospital giant and convinced them to build in Galt, "Well, then that might be the best dinner I ever attended," the councilman said.

Several leaders in Lodi and Galt said they make it a personal rule not to accept freebies.

Raboy said he feels no politicians should be allowed to accept gifts. He doesn't even take campaign contributions, he noted.

Some will expense event tickets to the city, noted Hitchcock, the Lodi councilwoman.

"No one ever gives me any gifts," she noted, then added she may have taken some hand cream from a delegation from Lodi's sister city in Lodi, Italy some time back.

A track record

While the Form 700s aren't investigated too often, there's always the chance they will be.

That prospect, plus the $5,000 penalty per violation attached to the forms, keeps most politicians in check, several government watchers noted.

More than 100,000 government workers fill out Form 700s each year, noted Roman Porter, the commission's spokesman. He said he could not characterize how detailed most forms are, noting the commission's policy precludes him from doing so.

About 20,000 forms are sent from local juridictions to the FPPC's Sacramento offices, including forms for all elected officials, city managers, city treasurers and city planning commissioners.

Of those, about 90 percent get a full review, Porter said.

Matt Wetstein, a former political science professor at Delta College, said Stockton City Councilman Dan Chapman provides a stark example of why disclosing economic interests is important.

Chapman is the president of the Stockton Thunder, a minor league hockey team that plays at the city-subsidized Stockton Arena.

Chapman has consistently recused himself from votes on matters that affect the team and arena.

Of course, being in business isn't necessarily a bad thing for city leaders, noted Benedetti, the Pacific professor.

"I would want them to have serious managerial abilities — they've got to get it somewhere," he noted, adding that business owners in government can and do separate themselves from their own interests.

Kimberly Nalder, an assistant professor of government at California State University, Sacramento, likened the Form 700s to one of the many "institutional mechanisms" present in government.

She said they're used not so much to check up on politicians but to present the possibility that they will be.

"It's worth having them go through the process because it probably leads to more honest behavior than if we didn't," Nalder said.

The forms will follow the leaders throughout their careers, she noted.

Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.